Daughter preference describes human families seeking to bear and raise daughters, rather than sons. It is unclear whether this phenomenon is due to their greater preference for daughters or a specific antipathy toward sons.
Daughter preference is evident in contemporary Japan[1] and Japanese-American immigrant families.[2] South Korea has also demonstrated a measurable shift from son preference to daughter preference.[3][4] Daughter preference appears at measurable levels in three Scandinavian countries: Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.[5] Study found that a significant contributing factor to daughter preference was the "number of wife's sisters."[6] In the matrilineal inheritance system of Malawi, daughter preference emerges if all existing children are sons.[7]
Daughter preference or son preference is sometimes expressed by higher levels of household investment in offspring of preferred gender.[8]
